Uconn

STORRS — The UConn debut for freshman Breanna Stewart went about as well as could possibly be expected Sunday. The 6-foot-4 forward from Syracuse began her career by tying Maya Moore for the second-most points by a freshman in an opener.

Stewart scored a game-high 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the field and a 5-for-5 performance from the foul line. She also added five rebounds and four steals.

"I just felt really comfortable," Stewart said. "I was just playing the game. I don't think I was doing anything to out of my element. Whenever I was open I looked to shoot it, and tried to look to be aggressive. "

Jennifer Rizzotti holds the program record for points by a freshman in an opener with 23 in 1992.

Stewart did very well despite feeling a few jitters being named a starter for the game.

"Starting, I was nervous. I'm not going to lie," Stewart said. "Just because it is the first game of the season and I am starting. Starting doesn't mean that much to me. I would rather win than start."

About the only think Stewart didn't do was pass the ball a lot, but that certainly isn't a flaw in her basketball character.

"Coach told me once to try not to lead the nation in assists, which I guess I appreciate," Stewart said. "But I am always looking for the open man."

Auriemma said Friday he wasn't sure about two of the starting spots for the opener. Ultimately, he decided that with playmaker Bria Hartley sidelined the first two games with an ankle injury, one starting spot had to go to Stewart because she is a dynamic player who makes things happen.

"Right now, she's able to kind of, like Maya did, change the game as it is being played," Auriemma said. "She is the one player on the floor that nobody has an answer for. If you remember when Maya was a freshman, we didn't necessarily have to worry about whether we had Maya on the floor as a freshman, because we had Tina (Charles), we had Renee (Montgomery), we had Kalana (Greene). We had a lot of guys that were playmakers who could make things happen.

"I think we need Breanna out on the floor right now, at least with Bria Hartley not being around, to impact the game like nobody else can. I just figure why not?"

The other starter: Auriemma chose Caroline Doty as the fifth starter in the game to reward her for a strong preseason, and she responded with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting including a pair of threes.

"Caroline is a huge key to this right now," Auriemma said. "And if Caroline can keep doing what she did today, then that allows us to do what we did with the freshmen much more often. And when Bria comes back and Bria and Caroline do what I think they can do, that allows us to do even more with the freshman and sophomores, for sure."

Choosing a freshman to start made it easier to make Doty, a fifth-year senior, the other starter.

"I thought we needed somebody really steady in the backcourt, and of all the people we have available, that's Caroline," Auriemma said. "Because she has been practicing exactly like she played today and the way she played the other night. So I thought that was a good way to go in the backcourt."

SNY coverage: Sunday's game was the debut for SNY's coverage of the Huskies as the network replaced CPTV as the local broadcast network for the women's games this season.

SNY will broadcast 20 games this season including eight of the first 10 games. The network has maintained longtime color analyst Meghan Culmo for its broadcasts. She will work alongside new play-by-play announcer Andrew Catalon.

The only game this season that won't be either on national TV (nine games) or SNY is the Dec. 31 matchup at Oregon.

800 and counting: Prior to Sunday's game, UConn coach Geno Auriemma was honored for reaching the 800-win mark in his career.

Auriemma reached the milestone last season with the Huskies' victory over Notre Dame in the Big East Tournament championship game. He attained his 800th win in only 928 games, marking the fastest by any coach by far. The previous quickest was 958 games by Tennessee's Pat Summitt.

Auriemma now has a record of 805-129 (.8618), the second-highest winning percentage for a women's coach in history. Only Leon Barmore (576-87) from Louisiana Tech has a better winning percentage AT .8688.

The athletic department also recognized associate head coach Chris Dailey for her contributions, since she has been with Auriemma since his first season. Both were given balls to commemorate the milestone.

No MCall: The Huskies lost out on one of their primary recruits late Saturday night when 6-foot-3 forward Erica McCall from Bakersfield,Calif. chose Stanford over UConn and UCLA.

Her loss leaves the Huskies with only one recruit signed for next season, that being 5-9 guard Saniya Chong from Ossining, N.Y.

With the Huskies losing three seniors at the end of this season, if they end up signing only Chong they will have just nine scholarship players next season. The early signing period does not end until Wednesday, but the Huskies are not currently involved with any other recruits.

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